'Abused' paramedics lodge formal complaints

Flinders Medical Centre has been accused of trying to hide the bank-up of waiting ambulances, known as ramping, by preventing ambulance officers from talking to the media.

The Ambulance Employees Association said 20 ambulances had been held up at the hospital in Adelaide's south since last Friday, with some admissions taking more than an hour.

Union official Phil Palmer said a hospital media liaison officer abused ambulance officers on Tuesday night for talking to a freelance cameraman.

He said the paramedics had lodged formal complaints with Flinders and union members would take industrial action if there was a repeat.

"The failure of Flinders to fix this problem over such a long period of time is a source of constant aggravation and yes it's not helping relationships between ambulance staff and hospital staff," he said.

"I can only conclude this is part of the ongoing response that Flinders Medical Centre have to ramping and that is to either make out it doesn't happen or try and hide the fact and I think this, my assumption or speculation on this is that it's more of the same, is about not fixing the issue but making it difficult to prove."

SA Health Minister Jack Snelling said care for patients was not compromised when ambulances were forced to queue at Flinders this week.

Mr Snelling told Parliament said there were times when many ambulances arrived within a short period.

"The simple answer is because over a half-hour period yesterday afternoon between 4-4:30 there was a presentation of 12 ambulances, that's a very large number of ambulances in a very short period of time. As I said four of those patients were critical and all of those patients were seen immediately," he said.